


A New Beginning

by JustCallMeRegina



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-02-12 20:57:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21482743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustCallMeRegina/pseuds/JustCallMeRegina
Summary: A Jedi student wakes from a first-order induced slumber, unaware of what has happened in the past ten years. What has happened to the galaxy? How has the first-order gotten this powerful? And what has happened to Ben Solo? Can she pull him away from the only family who has paid him any attention, or will she loose him to the dark side forever.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

A feeling of weightlessness surrounds her. Cooling, supporting. For a long time, this is all she’d known; the weird buoyancy supporting her as she’s forever attacked by Snoke. It would be only a moment before he was back in, slowly breaking down her walls, exposing her raw insides ready for his taking. So she waited...and kept waiting. But there is nothing, no pain, no voice...nothing. For the first time, she was able to take in her surroundings, or more importantly, the lack thereof. When she tried to open her eyes, the liquid encasing her attacked them, puncturing them with its chemical talons. With nothing left but touch, she tried to swim to the surface, but it was blocked. After a few more attempts, she found herself to be in a large cylinder filled with a sterilizing liquid. The only reason she hadn’t died of suffocation yet was because there was a respirator over her mouth, feeding her stale air. 

Panic started to set in as she continually felt the failure of her escape attempts. Her breath came in short bursts, fogging up the respirator. It wasn’t long until she couldn’t breathe, suffocating in her own thoughts. In her head, she was a pressure cooker ready to explode. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, the glass fractured once...twice...and on the third time, it exploded. For a moment, the liquid remained in its shape, suspended in the air like the column of a building, until it came crashing down. 

She lifted herself onto shaky arms until she was crouched down on the floor, watching as the world slowly came into view. The respirator felt constricting and invasive. She grabbed the front and tore it off her face, finally able to breathe in the only slightly better air. The rest of the encasing liquid was still trickling out of the tube, making small ripples in the puddle she was kneeling in.

_ Where the fuck am I? _

The ripples in the puddle cleared and the water stilled. She didn’t recognize the girl staring back at her. The youthful look of a teenager was replaced with sunken cheeks and grey skin, her eyes were red from the contents of the tube, and her hair hung wet and lifeless around her face. In short, she looked like the backside of a nerf. Pulling herself from her reflection she took stock of what was around her. It looked like a medical laboratory, complete with monitors reading sensors from the now broken chamber. It was quiet. The machines hummed silently and the only audible sound was her breathing and the slow  _ tap...tap...tap  _ of the remaining liquid.

Just as she started to pull herself off the floor the sounds around her started to change. Voices could be heard in the distance, yelling something she couldn’t make out. The sound was muffled, almost as if she was underwater. Suddenly she blinked and it was like she broke the surface. She was no longer on the wet laboratory floor. Instead, she was staring at an equally reflective black stone floor that was littered with bodies of red-clad soldiers. She lifted her head, even more confused than before, and came face to face with a sight that made her blood freeze.

A young woman, slightly younger than herself, was standing to her right, tears in her eyes. And across from her...was Ben. His hair was damp with sweat and his arm was outstretched towards the woman. Vira couldn’t comprehend what was happening in front of her.

“Let it all die. Rey, I want you to join me. We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy.” said Ben. His voice was a deep base that reverberated inside Vira’s head. It had changed since the last time she had spoken to him, but then again, it looked like everything had changed since then.

“Don’t do this Ben. Please don’t go this way” the woman responded, her words choking her. Ben’s eyes widened for a split second before addressing her again.

“No. No, you’re still holding on! Let go!” his voice crescendoed until he was shouting at the end. It shook with the force of his emotions, tearing at Vira’s heart. She saw the way his other hand clenched at his side. He was scared. Before she could make her presence known she was transported back to the laboratory, once again crouched on the cold floor. 

Her mind couldn’t wrap around what she just witnessed. Why did Ben want to rule the galaxy? Who was the woman with him? Who had he become? Fragments of the events came back to her. The red and black throne room, Ben’s dark clothing, the fear in the woman’s eyes when he asked her to join him. The realization hit Vira. He had turned. Snoke had finally got to him. 

Her sight became blurry again, but this time it was because of the tears that were falling like rivers down her face. She had failed him. She was his last line of defense and she abandoned him just like his parents. If she had never walked out on him this would have never happened. She sat there for a while, just letting her emotions wash over her. When it seemed that she could shed no more tears, she pulled herself up onto her feet.

Looking around, she saw that there was only one door, so she walked over on shaky legs and opened it. In front of her was a long white hallway with five doors on either side. With nothing else to do, she started opening each door. The first was a control room. Large panels of switches and screens seemed to be monitoring her vitals. Or at least, they were monitoring her vitals. The next room was what appeared to be a changing room. Lab coats were hung on one wall, and there was a set of sterilizing showers at one end. She still had eight more rooms to check, so she closed the door and turned back to the hallway, and started exploring the others. Supply closet. Boring. Break room. There was a holographic board game on a table but it didn’t seem to work anymore. Cafeteria. No food, but it reminded her how hungry she was. 

The next two rooms were dorms. One female and one male. She explored the female one first, thinking there might be a change of clothes somewhere, even if it was first order issued. Bunk beds were pushed up against the walls, with a space in the middle occupied by two tables. At first, it seemed as if there was nothing of use, but just as she was turning to leave, a glint of something metal caught her eye. Underneath the beds, there was what appeared to be a suitcase. Inside were two pairs of standard-issue first order officer uniforms and a heavy cloak. The cloak was Alama’s only clue so far as to where she was. It was constructed out of extremely heavy material, clearly made to withstand sub-zero temperatures. 

The uniform fit loosely around her, but anything was better than the medical jumpsuit she was wearing before. She assumed it tracked her vitals but at the moment she didn’t care. All that mattered was that it was finally off her body. With her new clothes, she continued her examination of the remaining rooms. 

As she walked down the hallway, a thought occurred to her. 

_ Where were the people? _

When she broke out of her container there were no alarms blaring, no scientists in the room, no feet pounding on the floor racing to stop her. And she expected to at least run into someone when going through the rooms, especially in the dorms. But there was no one. The lights were working, the air was circulating, and the machines in the laboratory seemed to be running, but no one was operating them. 

Fear started to set in and the fluorescent lights looked more threatening with each step. Vira resolved to skip the last four doors and get the hell out of this mad scientist's lair, but as she was passing the second to last door she felt a pull deep inside her gut. It was so powerful it made her stop in her tracks and turn in its direction. She felt raw energy radiating off of it, but it felt familiar. With shaking hands, she turned the handle and stepped inside.

She first noticed what seemed to be a glass display case with a keypad lock on the bottom corner. Then, her attention was drawn to what was actually in the case. Supported by four metal rods were her two lightsabers. It was like coming home to an old friend. The energy surrounded her like a hug, comforting her. 

She unlocked the box with ease, sliding the pins out of their locking mechanisms without ever having to press the keypad. The glass was warm unlike everything else in the building, absorbing some of the energy radiating from the artifacts within. With bated breath, Vira reached out and picked up both lightsabers, one in each hand. The feeling of them in her hands was both familiar and unfamiliar. Calluses which she had worked so hard to build up were now gone, leaving her soft fleshy palm defenseless against the hard metal points of the hilt. She wanted to check to make sure the first order didn’t tamper with them, so she activated them both. They cast the room in a golden glow. Once satisfied that they worked separately, she needed to see if they worked when connected.

She brought the ends of the hilts together and let out a relieved sigh when she heard the mechanisms lock together. The lightsabers emitted a deep purr and she twirled them around her hand. Satisfied with her tests she disconnected, deactivated them, and continued on down the hall, feeling more whole than before. 

The final room seemed to be another storage closet, but it housed surplus rations and confiscated weapons. Not seeing any security, Vira grabbed a satchel and filled it with as many rations as she could carry comfortably. She considered bringing more but as she lifted the pack onto her shoulders she almost collapsed from the weight, forgetting that her muscles had disintegrated over time. So instead, she emptied a portion of her pack and instead grabbed a metal staff to help her walk through whatever landscape she was in.

It occurred to her that she was about to leave her prison. The place that had caused her so much pain would soon be a speck in the distance. She hesitated in front of the final door. Shifting on her feet she took a deep breath, adjusted her pack, and turned the handle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all!! I am finally updating this story after like...a year? Whoops. Before I start I wanted to say a couple of things, both about the last chapter and just the story in general.
> 
> 1\. I started writing this story BEFORE Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, so this takes place directly after the end of The Last Jedi, and thus I will NOT be including the events of TRS in this or any future chapters.
> 
> 2\. This story has been sitting on my computer for so long that I have made a few changes to Chapter 1. As of now, it is already updated so this is more for the people who read the original version.
> 
> 3\. I'm going to try to upload every two weeks or so, but I'm keeping the schedule flexible so there could be times where I upload every week, it just depends on my life and how confident I feel in my writing.
> 
> That's all! I hope y'all enjoy this story!

Why did she hope for something better? The wind beat against her as she pushed against the door. It must have been a while since anyone had come up to this place, as the harsh weather had nearly frozen the door shut. Using a combination of her own limited strength and the force, she managed to pry it open far enough to slip herself and her satchel through. 

Outside, the snow blanketed the ground. She wasn’t stuck in a blizzard, but there was enough wind and snow to where she couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of her. The only thing she could discern about her surroundings is that she was on a mountain. To her right the land sloped upward, reaching into the white sky. To her left, the land sloped downward. Briefly debating in her mind, Vira turned to her left and started down the mountain. 

The snow reached her knees at this altitude. The heavy fabric of her pants and the height of her boots protected her from moisture, but she could still feel the cold start to seep into her bones. The air was breathable, but it felt like daggers tearing at the inside of her throat. Using her metal staff she struck it down in front of her, making sure that her next step wouldn’t be her last. This became her routine for the next few hours. Strike. Step. Strike. Step. 

At every turn, the wind was her enemy. Constantly switching directions it pushed and pulled at her clothing, at times almost throwing her off the mountain. Her movements were slow and calculated, still weak from extended captivity. Still, she carried on as the atmosphere around her got darker and darker. She knew that if night fell and she had no shelter she would most likely freeze to death. As she rounded a bend she saw an outcropping of rock that looked as if it could provide her with enough shelter to last through the night. 

A horizontal piece of rock jutted out from the mountain, sheltering the ground from snowfall. There was also a large piece of rock resting up against the outcropping, which protected the space inside from the wind. As Vira stepped between the two rocks she unsheathed her lightsaber and took in the scope of her surroundings. Bathed in a golden glow, she could tell that the ceiling of her makeshift cave reached well over her head and the ground was littered with grass in circular formations. It appeared that in the spring and summer, this was the nesting ground of local fauna. 

Vira rested her staff on one of the walls and set her satchel down next to it. At this point, her head was flooding with various lessons on survival skills she remembered from school. She knew the first thing she needed to do was build a fire. Going further into the cave she found a few sizable sticks and other vegetation that looked like it would be flammable. Once the tripod shape was made she dug back into her bag and found the first aid kit she packed and grabbed the lighter. In a few minutes, she had herself a decently sized fire. It didn’t need to be huge, only large and strong enough to last her through the night. 

Along with the first aid kit, she found some dried meat and a canteen of water. She sat down and stared into the fire and it was only then that she registered just how exhausted she was. Her entire body was weak and sore, and she felt pins and needles all over as her skin was slowly warmed. Her eyelids weighed ten tons each and if she didn’t concentrate she wouldn’t even realize they were closed. Resigned, Vira took a final bite of her first meal out of captivity and laid down, the image of the pulsating fire still etched into her mind long after she closed her eyes. 

_ She was floating. Red surrounded her; red like blood. She couldn’t differentiate between up, down, left, right. She was completely alone in a world of red. But then she blinked, and she wasn’t alone anymore. Snoak’s head appeared before her gargantuan in size. His cold eyes fixated on her defenseless form and the rest of his deformed face twitched into a grin that kept extending up and up. Vira tried to run away but no matter how much she struggled, she was held in place by his gaze.  _

_ With the speed of a starfighter, Snoak lunged and swallowed her whole, plunging her world into darkness. For the briefest moment she thought this must be where the dream ends, but she felt his presence again. Not outside filling her gaze, but inside; sliding through her and encompassing her mind. There was nowhere she could go where she wouldn’t feel him. All her organs, arteries, and veins were filled with his disgusting energy. She wanted to tear out her own skin to rid herself of this thing that was barely even human.  _

_ ‘You can’t save him’ _

_ ‘You’re weak’ _

_ ‘You abandoned him’ _

_ ‘Give up’ _

_ The words raced around her head in a twisted merry-go-round. Said in his voice, they were a raging sea crashing against her barriers. She pressed her hands against her ears trying to block out the voices but they only crescendoed until she couldn’t take it anymore. Her face twisted and she screamed into the void she was trapped in. She didn’t stop screaming until she felt cool metal under her knees. Opening her eyes, she found that she was no longer trapped in inky blackness. Instead, she was kneeling on the floor of a bedroom on a ship somewhere, still dressed in her stolen winter attire. Her breath came out in pants and her heartfelt as if it was beating a mile a minute. Looking around she saw nothing of interest until her eyes landed on the bed. Sitting with his back towards her was Ben. He had his arms braced on top of his thighs and his head hung down, allowing his hair to fall around his face like a black curtain. Vira could see how he had changed since they were together. His large shoulders sagged under an invisible weight.  _

_ ‘You would have to be truly stupid to think that it’s a good idea to visit me again’ _

_ His voice reverberated through her skull and snapped her out of her reverie. Before she could even think of responding he stood with such speed and force that he appeared to be teleporting. Looking at the opposite wall, his hands clenched into fists before turning towards Vira’s crouched form, his lightsaber humming to life. His eyes widened, clearly not expecting the sight in front of him. Vira stretched out her hand, words forming on her lips before she was roughly pulled back into darkness. _

With a gasp, Vira awoke on the cold stone floor of the cave. Her stomach muscles clenched as her last meal threatened to make an appearance. She rolled onto her hands and knees and heaved up the sad remains of the meal she had eaten only hours prior. The fire had extinguished itself not long before she woke, leaving the still-warm remains in a blackened heap. Vira wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep, but the memory of her dream was like a shot of adrenaline through her veins. Quickly realizing that sleep was an unattainable luxury, she started packing up her things. With some degree of relief she saw that the atmosphere outside was light in color, signifying she had made it through the night and could continue on her journey; to where she hadn’t figured out yet. 

The temperature was just as bad as it had been the previous day. The only consolation was that the wind had lessened, though not by much. Vira continued down the mountain, only stopping for a small meal break after a portion of the day had passed. Fairly quickly after she started walking she registered that the land was starting to level out, and her trail along the side of the mountain was becoming increasingly harder to follow. This was bad. She started to panic a bit as she saw her trail start to disappear, but before she could work herself into a fit, something made her pause. In the distance, partially obscured by the snow in the wind, were two orange lights. At first, she thought they could be the lights of some transport vehicle, but they weren’t moving either towards her or away from her. Taking cautious steps, she continued forwards. When she got close enough she realized she was right in assuming they weren’t vehicle lights. Sticking out of the snow were two beacons, sitting about eight feet apart from each other. They were an older model that she recognized to be first order design. Her panic level started to decrease as she took these beacons to be a good sign. If she strained her eyes, she could see two more beacons glowing faintly in the distance. More confident than before, she continued pushing through the snow on the now flat ground. 

Her feet were ice. Her hands were numb. She could barely feel her face. But still, she kept moving forward, following the trail of lights. Sometimes one was missing, having broken under the weight of numerous winters. When this happened, Vira had to hope that it was a straight line to the next pair.

After a point, the beacons started to look newer. Instead of a muted orange, they shone bright red and ominous in the snow. Still, she followed them, feeling the terrain grow harder under whatever feet she had left. It felt as if she had been walking for days before the wind let up. The snow, in turn, changed from a sweeping storm to a light sprinkle upon the ground. Looking around with ice-encrusted eyelashes, Vira saw that she was on the edge of a forest. Dark green speared up into the sky like an impassable wall, but the lights led her right into the heart of it.

Once Vira started towards the center of the forest, the snowfall almost stopped completely. The only sound audible was the crunching of her boots through the top layer of ice. Other noises were completely muffled by the environment, leaving the world around her silent. She hated it. Used to the raucous noise of the city and the hums of lightsabers in battle, this new world was suffocating. With no one to talk to and nothing to distract her, she was left alone with her thoughts. It started with a seed of doubt.

_ What if nobody lives on this planet _

Her heart stopped cold as the thought ran amok in her mind. It led to more just like it and pretty soon her head was swimming in doubt. Her breath came faster and faster. Oxygen was coming into her lungs but she still felt choked and she started to truly panic. Abandoning her slow walking speed she started to run, the extra shot of adrenaline making her boots feel weightless. She ran and ran, the sets of beacons flying past her like the passing lights of a ship. Still, she could barely breathe and once again she felt the slimy sensation of Snoak’s presence in her mind. This only caused her to run faster. 

Legs burning, she pushed through the ice and snow, trying to escape her own mind. Her vision became pinpointed; so much so that the trees looked like a green and brown wall on either side of her. All she could do was focus on the trail ahead. Heat pounding, muscles burning she kept sprinting. With every step, her satchel tried to pull her down, but it was no match for her steely resolve. Vira was so focused she didn’t see the cliff right in front of her.

Her foot crunched through the snow and kept going, throwing her body forward. Her hands met the hard, icy ground as her momentum flung her down the hill. The world kept spinning and spinning for what felt like forever. When it stopped, Vira laid there for a while, her breath coming out in short pants. She could already tell that a new collection of bruises would be appearing on her body by tomorrow. If she made it that long. Shaking her head, she got onto her hands and knees to try and regain some mental stability. Once her gaze came back into focus she saw something that caught her attention. Nailed to the trunk of a tree was a sign, written in a language she didn’t know, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was there was an arrow, pointing straight ahead. 

It felt as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. Peals of laughter bubbled up from her stomach and pushed their way out of her mouth. The sound ricocheted off the landscape, coming back warbled and disfigured. Vira stayed there laughing with her ghosts until the temperature froze the tears to her face. Carefully, she picked herself up and continued on her way; now at least with a general direction in mind. 

On the trail, there were continuing signs of habitation. Another sign, an abandoned machine in the distance, stumps of trees, cleanly cut. This stretch of trail was longer than the last one. It ran like a straight shot towards the now setting suns. The temperature dropped drastically when the larger sun fell behind the trees. Vira could barely keep her eyes open. The combination of freezing temperatures and cold winds had made her eyes dry and caked with ice. Just when she thought she would collapse from exhaustion soft balls of light appeared in the distance. Some were clustered together. Others were a different color and ran in between the clusters. A town. She was saved. Exhaustion was the last thing on her mind as she picked up speed. Now that she was closer to civilization, the trail had expanded into a street that was flat and offered a clear shot to the town’s center. Soft whispers of conversation floated towards her. With a sigh of relief, Vira realized she could understand them. At the first sign of another person, she felt like crying. A woman stepped out of her house to fiddle with a light anchored into the wall. She was wearing layers of clothes, the most visible being stained in bright red, yellow, and blue, and on her feet were a pair of heavy slippers, but on the porch were pairs of thicker boots enclosed in a protective box. Vira was about to ask her directions, but then the woman actually saw her. Immediately, her eyes fixated upon the first order insignia affixed to Vira’s cloak. She was gone before Vira could utter a word, the porch light still unfixed. 

As Vira made her way further into the center, she found most people held the same reaction. She was given a wide berth, dirty looks, the occasional hand gesture. In the process of becoming the town’s freak, she happened to stumble on a night market. Wooden stalls were set up on the edge of a circular clearing, lights hanging down from wires strung from roof to roof. Steam wafted off piles of baked goods and mugs of hot drinks in the stalls to the left. Following her nose and stomach, Vira made her way over to one of these stalls selling a type of pastry. The shopkeeper was an older woman, dressed in layers of clothes with the common colors of red, yellow, and blue making their appearances. As she approached the stall, Vira was given a sidelong stare, and even more so as she started perusing the sweet-smelling treats.

“What do you want?” The lady asked, her voice bearing the scratch of old age, as well as a gruffness that Vira suspected was reserved only for her. 

“How...How much for one of these?” Her voice was ripped from the cold.

“Five credits,” the old woman said, pointing to a sign that read exactly what she had just said. Vira bit her lip before digging into her satchel. She couldn’t remember if she had grabbed any money before she left. As she was digging through the pack, the old woman saw the food and supplies Vira had packed, and fully took in her ragged appearance, her improvised walking stick, and her general weariness. This was no first order soldier. This was someone who’s had to make use of what she had.

“You know what, just take one.” The old lady wrapped up one of the pastries in a small piece of thin paper. Vira had stopped rifling through her satchel and looked up with wide eyes. What with how everyone else had been treating her, true kindness was like a shock to her system.

“Are you sure?” She asked, slowly taking the pastry from the old woman’s gloved hands. The woman offered a small smile and nodded.

“...Thank you,” Vira said. She stole another glance at the old lady before turning away from the stall to continue her trek through the market. Stalls were not only selling food, but also lanterns, candles, wooden carvings, and toys for children who ran amok in the streets, but even they gave her a wide berth. Vira drifted towards the center and space between two stalls where she could eat her pastry in peace. Her teeth punctured the outer layers of flaky dough before sinking into the gooey center. It was filled with a sweet, nutty paste that made her practically melt. It was sweet and salty and absolutely perfect. Just as she was about to go in for a second bite, she heard a curse to her right, and the next moment she was thrown to the ground, her unfinished treat landing in the snow, its gooey innards staining the white beneath it. 

“No!” The person who ran into her shouted, stretching a hand out to the road, which was clearing to let a vehicle pass. An intricately carved wooden doll laid in the middle, directly in the path of the vehicle's wheels. Without thinking, Vira stretched out a hand, calling the doll to her. It flew from the snow into her hands just as the vehicle drove past. As its sluggish form disappeared down the street, Vira turned to the person who had run into her. He was a middle-aged man, once again, wearing layers of fabrics, though not as nearly as colorful as the women’s. He had a head of dark hair that was partially covered by a hat. Both of them picked themselves up from the ground.

“I believe this is yours,” said Vira, offering the doll to him. He stared at her, mouth slightly agape. In fact, he hadn’t stopped staring since she had saved the doll in question. Silently, he took it from her hands.

“Yes, thank you,” Seeming to snap out of it, he hastily picked up the rest of his dropped gifts as Vira looked forlornly at her ruined meal. The man took in her appearance and tried to connect it to what he had just witnessed.

“You’re not first order are you.” Vira turned back, mostly surprised that he was still there.

“No, not in the slightest.” They stood there for a long time while the world continued to spin around them. Finally, the man broke the silence.

“My name’s Tonor,” he held out a hand which Vira shook slowly, “My wife is cooking a big family dinner tonight in celebration of the solstice...would you like to eat with us?” The question was innocent enough, but the glint in his eye made Vira pause. However, it was her stomach that made the decision as it growled beneath the layers of fabric.

“Sure. That’s very kind of you,” He nodded and made for one of the side streets, carrying his spoils on his hip. Vira followed at a distance, her hand poised on one of her lightsabers. They walked to the edge of town and she was led up to a decently large house. Like the first one she saw, there was a box of boots just to the left of the door who’s population increased as Tonor added his to the pile. Seeing as it was only polite, Vira shucked of her own as well. Expecting the bitter cold, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the lamp affixed to the wall not only provided light, but also a bubble of warmth that made undressing in this weather bearable. 

Toron led her through the door into a room flooded with warm, orange light. The main attraction was the fireplace on the opposite wall. The tips of each flame almost reached the ceiling. Hanging on strings anchored into the wall where clothes of different shapes and sizes, set out to dry by the fire. The floor was covered in a thickly woven rug, and across the walls were pictures and wooden masks carved in much the same way as the doll. The space was small but cozy. 

“Daddy!” Vira was so focused on the walls she didn’t see the sofas arranged in a circle in the middle of the room, nor their occupants. A little girl, no more than eight, flung herself off the back of the sofa and launched herself into Toron’s arms. He laughed and spun her around, somehow simultaneously balancing the bag on his hip.

“Well hello to you too, beasty,” Bringing her to his face, he kissed her on her cheek, to which the girl dissolved into giggles.

“Did you get me something from the market?” she squealed, sneaking a glance into his bag. Vira noticed that the doll had been hidden behind a stack of blankets by the door.

“Jaina! He hasn’t been in the door for five minutes and you're already bugging him for presents.” A woman was making her way over to the trio, wrapping herself in a blue throw blanket. Her white hair was tied in an intricate knot on top of her head, and as she moved the firelight caught the indentation of a scar running from her chin down across her throat. When she saw Vira, hiding in the shadows behind her husband, she faltered for a moment but quickly regained her composure.

“Honey, why don’t you go set the table for dinner?” The little girl, Jaina, Vira remembered, nodded, and skipped through a door leading deeper into the house. When she was out of sight the woman’s face dropped, her gaze becoming hard and unyielding as she scrutinized Vira’s cloak.

“Who is this?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Toron set down his bags.

“She’s not first order.” He said, answering the silent question. Vira was relieved when the woman turned her gaze away from herself and onto her husband. She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the center of the room. They talked in hushed voices with the occasional glance thrown back in Vira’s direction. 

Surrounded by remnants of this family and their home, Vira felt like she was intruding. She averted her gaze from the couple and tried to busy herself in the grain of the wood that composed the walls. It must have been effective because she didn't even notice the little girl’s head peeking out of a curtain covering a doorway. The two stared at each other, neither one of them moving a muscle. 

“Are you going to take my parents away?” Her wide eyes were overshadowed by her pouted lips as she finished her accusation. Vira didn’t exactly know how to answer her.

“Um...No,” Jaina’s expression didn’t change.

“Mommy says the first order are murderers.”

“I’m not first order,” Jaina was about to say something but her eyes spied the doll tucked away from her view. In an instant, her face morphed into what can only be described a pure joy. Vira only had a moment to jump out of the way of the child. When she hopped backward her satchel knocked the wall, and the impact jarred loose a framed picture, sending it crashing to the ground. The sound alerted the other adults, who turned to see a broken picture frame and Jaina twirling in circles with her new doll. Vira saw the woman’s lips purse when she saw the broken frame.

“Sorry about that,” Vira bent down and waved her hand over the mess. Shards of glass fused together and the strips of wood moved back in place. In no time, the frame was fixed and hanging back on the wall. Tonor looked at his wife with something along the lines of ‘I told you so’. Behind her, Vira heard a child-like gasp of delight.

“You have a light sword?! That’s so cool.” As Vira had fixed the picture frame, her cloak had been pushed aside, revealing one of her lightsabers. Jaina was now bouncing around her, asking if she could play with it. Vira had studied ancient meditations, swordsmanship, diplomacy, but nothing could prepare her for trying to calm down an eight-year-old. Luckily she was saved by Tonor’s wife, who walked over and stilled her daughter. 

“Jaina, didn’t I ask you to set the table?” The girl stopped bouncing at the tone of her mother’s question.

“Yes…” she answered, her voice soft and timid.

“That’s what I thought. Go on,” Jaina reluctantly followed her mother’s instructions and disappeared through the same curtain. Now that the child was gone, the room seemed too quiet as both Vira and Tonor waited for his wife’s decision.

“I guess we always have room for one more,” The other two breathed a sigh of relief. The woman walked over to Vira and offered her hand.

“My name’s Kylia and you’ve already met Tonor. Our daughter’s name is Jaina.” Vira nodded at the new information, shaking Kylia’s hand. Kylia’s eyes drifted down her uniform and almost recoiled at the sight of the first order emblem. 

“Let’s get you some new clothes,” She grabbed Vira’s arm and led her further into the house. They passed doors leading to different rooms, all decorated in the same style as the living room until they stopped at a room in the back of the house. There was a window, cabinet, and bed with a wooden trunk sitting at the foot. Kylia flung open the lid and started pulling out skirts, dresses, pants, and shirts, all made with the same thick material as her own garb.

“These used to be mine when I was younger. You’re free to use whatever you like.” Vira slowly walked into the room and ran her hands through the weave of the different fabrics. Even through her gloves, she could feel their warmth. 

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” Kylia didn’t say anything but rather nodded in understanding. Vira leaned her staff against the wall and placed her satchel on the bed. Without even thinking, she started shucking off her clothes. When she tried to step out of her pants her legs wouldn’t respond in time, so she fell to the bed with a curse and the dexterity of a bantha. Kylia rushed to her aid and helped her sit upright on the bed.

“Did you hurt anything?” She asked.

“Only my pride,” Vira muttered. Now, sitting down, she was able to take off the pants and grab the nearest skirt.

“So you’re obviously not first order, and I would have noticed a Jedi in my own town. Where are you from exactly?” Vira stilled at the mention of being a Jedi.

“I woke up in an abandoned first order laboratory. It’s about a day and a half’s walk from here.” She gestured vaguely out the window. Kylia’s gaze followed her hand and then turned back to her with a puzzled expression.

“The Myridian Lab? The order abandoned that place close to a decade ago. It was too much work to drive supplies up there every week, so they conserved their manpower on the town.”

“The order has a presence here?” As Vira had walked around the town, she hadn’t seen even one stormtrooper on patrol. She finished buttoning up a thick shirt and tucking it into the skirt.

“Yes, although tonight you wouldn’t know it. The stormtroopers don’t like to wrangle up a bunch of drunk patrons on the solstice night, so they leave that policing to us. If it was any other night, you would see them on every street corner,” venom laced her voice. Before Vira could respond, a knock sounded at the open door.

“Knock knock. Kylia, dinner’s on the table.” Tonor poked his head through the archway but just as quickly left. Kylia stood up and offered her arms, pulling Vira up into a standing position. They walked back through the house until they were a room in the front of the house, decked with paper streamers, small lanterns, and a table piled high with different dishes. The different smells caused Vira’s mouth to immediately fill with saliva. She was the last to sit down, taking a place between Tonor and Kylia, and was silent as Tonor filled her plate with food. She barely gave it a second thought before diving in, shoveling it into her mouth. She and Jaina seemed to share the same table manners. She didn’t stop until her stomach was filled to its bursting point. The other members of the family talked amongst themselves, and it wasn’t until Jaina’s head was threatening to fall into her food that they started cleaning up their meal. Vira felt the need to be useful so she picked up some plates and brought them over to a tub of water set into the counter. Kylia took Jaina’s sleeping form to the back of the house.

“We have that spare bedroom in the back that you're free to use.” Tonor didn’t look up from his dishes. Again, Vira was surprised at their kindness. In the back of her mind though, she wondered why. Why did they want her to stay? What did they need her for? 

“Thank you…” Now that she had her suspicions, she cast her eye around the room, looking for anything that could point her in one direction or another. The problem was that Vira wasn’t familiar with this planet and society, so she had no way of knowing what was normal and what was not. Without evidence pointing one way or another, her guard remained up. Once the dishes were clean Tonor made his way to the living room, Vira following behind him. He sat next to his wife on the couch, but now, the thought of facing an interrogation didn’t seem so appealing to Vira. She made her excuses and retired to the spare bedroom she had changed in earlier. Closing the door and locking it behind her she gazed around the room but found that everything seemed to be where she left it. She chose a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt from the trunk and curled up on the bed, her lightsaber clenched in her fist.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story, so I would love to hear your guys' comments!


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